Winners: most inspiring team or organisation

 

Winner:

Storengy UK

Storengy, a subsidiary of GDF SUEZ, is Europe’s second largest natural gas storage operator. Storengy UK is constructing a gas processing plant to service a 400 million cubic metre underground natural gas storage facility in 28 underground caverns.
Since the start of construction in January 2008, 1.8 million man-hours have been expended on the project and yet there has only been a single reportable accident (in April 2008, a delivery driver crushed his thumb in the tailgate of his lorry).
Storengy UK took a total team approach with the aim of having no accidents, with no harm to people, and no damage to the environment. It introduced a number of processes to help people understand the risks and so behave more safely. These include a series of site safety visits which demonstrate management commitment and encourage discussion about health and safety. There is also an observation programme to involve everyone in identifying safe and at-risk behaviours.  To date there have been 1400 observations

 

Highly Commended:

 

BOC Gases

BOC began its move towards an interdependent safety culture by training the entire organisation using the Lattitude film All For One – The Meerkat Way. Since then, it has adopted the meerkat symbol and used it to badge all its SHEQ programmes. This brings the various campaigns into focus but it also injects an element of fun.
It has set up eight support groups led by shop-floor people covering various aspects of BOC’s work including manual handling and forklift driving. These have been central to improving its safety culture.
It has been a team effort by the entire site and the effort has been rewarded. There has been a 30% increase in peer-to-peer safety observations and a 400% increase in the number of SHEQ improvement suggestions by staff. The result is the site has gone 500,000 hours without a lost-time injury.

 

Network Rail, Healthfair Team

When a man had a heart attack working for Network Rail, it made the company think about health risks. Long term, poor diet or lack of exercise can have the same sort of devastating  impact as an accident.
They developed a series of Health Fairs to help people understand health risks and to persuade them to change their behaviour and move to a healthier lifestyle.
The fairs are designed to raise awareness and get people thinking about their health, fitness and well-being. They give advice on diet and exercise and encourage people to have their blood pressure checked regularly.
But they also aim to get people involved and they always ask people what health topics they would be interested in.

 

South East Electricty Substation Alliance (SEESA), New Cross Substation Team

SEESA was set up in 2007 to upgrade the UK electricity transmission network. Its site at New Cross involves construction of a substation and a cable tunnel. It is a huge challenge because it involves a large number of contractors.
The aim of the Considerate Constructors Scheme is to integrate all these different teams so that they work together and make the site safer. But SEESA has moved from the old fashioned view of safety being something you police to achieving safety through coaching and leadership.
There are daily briefings for people to voice safety concerns. Lunchtime health and safety quizzes are made more palatable because managers cook people a hot meal.
The New Cross team also has an initiative to go into local schools and explain the dangers of playing on construction and substation sites.